Rhetoric and reality - the great divide

This is a great article by the ever astute Radley Balko (check out his blog). In it he posses questions to our would be Presidential leadership that have yet to be asked but which demand immediate answers. As this election season comes into full swing it is time to hold both Bush and Kerry accountable for the apparent disconnect between what they say and what they do. Regardless of your political persuasion, I think this article will leave you wanting answers. A few samples:

For President Bush:

— You also said in 2000 that you trust Americans to spend their own money more than you trust the government. But during your first term, with your party in control of both houses of Congress, you’ve spent more taxpayer dollars (adjusted for inflation) than Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon — more than every administration since Lyndon Johnson. That’s true no matter how we measure “spending.”

For Sen. Kerry:

— You recently said of the Patriot Act: “We are a nation of laws and liberties, not of a knock in the night. So it is time to end the era of John Ashcroft. That starts with replacing the Patriot Act with a new law that protects our people and our liberties at the same time. I’ve been a District Attorney and I know that what law enforcement needs are real tools not restrictions on American’s basic rights.”
Eloquently put. So why did you vote for it?

BA-ZING.